A vehicle may be equipped with an in-vehicle apparatus having a transmitter and a receiver for wirelessly communicating with other vehicles. A patent document 1 (i.e., Japanese Patent No. 3457577) discloses a technique in which a lead vehicle transmits its own position information and performs a driving support control on a follower vehicle that is based on its own position information.
The technique of patent document 1 also utilizes a travel locus of a nearby vehicle to provide the driving support control. A nearby vehicle may be a vehicle traveling close to or within a nearby area of a subject vehicle. When a travel locus of one of several nearby vehicles is compared with a travel locus of the subject vehicle, a distance between the two vehicles in a lateral direction may be calculated. Further, various determinations may be performed by utilizing such a distance, such as, whether the nearby vehicle is traveling in the same lane as the subject vehicle, whether the subject vehicle can safely pass the nearby vehicle, or the like.
However, transmitting the travel locus of the subject vehicle to the nearby vehicle may cause personal privacy concerns for the driver of the subject vehicle. For example, it may be possible for the transmitted travel locus of the subject vehicle to be used to recall or track destinations of recent/past travel. Some drivers may not wish to disclose such information.